Cayman Aggressor fleet

[Mossman]

Your kidding me right? I should know better? LOL, that's a good one. Professional courtesy is a two way street. They knew who I was, and it just didn't matter to them. I paid my fare, it was Christmas Eve, through New Year's Eve and my husbands fortieth birthday all in one week. I paid my $2200 a person and my airfare down there, tipped and paid their excessive fees. $7000.00 in total. Yeah right, I should lighten up.

You're a dive shop owner, so it's a write-off. Besides, you have plenty of opportunities for reduced-cost or free travel by leading groups, going on fam trips, etc. Why were you so grumpy over the holidays? For most people it's a time to be merry and it seems forgivable for them to think that you might have been merry too.

Now if they ran out of booze, then I could understand complaining.

 

[SelkieDVM]

Well I'm booked on the Cayman Aggressor in three weeks. I've done some sailing and have a high tolerance for boat "issues". The info about performing (or not) for the camera is helpful as I have no interest in this. Will give everyone a report when I get back.

Cheers, L.

 

[Mossman]

Well I'm booked on the Cayman Aggressor in three weeks. I've done some sailing and have a high tolerance for boat "issues". The info about performing (or not) for the camera is helpful as I have no interest in this. Will give everyone a report when I get back.

On the Turks & Caicos Aggressor, they actually had us sit through a slideshow presentation on how to model for their cameras. Fortunately for me, that was when we rounded the bend of West Caicos and hit a rough patch before my Dramamine could kick in - I made a dramatic exit down to my cabin, where I was bed-ridden until the next morning, but at least it gave me an excuse to pretend I didn't know what they were doing when they tried to video me.

The other reason I avoid getting on the video, other than the fact that I hate being interrupted on my dive, is that I'm a sucker for watching myself underwater and if there's enough footage of me, I'll end up paying $65 or whatever for the DVD to add it to my collection of other trip DVDs and videos that collect dust. If I'm barely in the DVD, it's easy to rationalize skipping the purchase.

 

[Debraw]

You're a dive shop owner, so it's a write-off. Besides, you have plenty of opportunities for reduced-cost or free travel by leading groups, going on fam trips, etc. Why were you so grumpy over the holidays? For most people it's a time to be merry and it seems forgivable for them to think that you might have been merry too.Now if they ran out of booze, then I could understand complaining.

LOL! !!! That's the best comment so far, it's a write off.!!!!!LOL! I will let the tax man know. LOL!!! As for reduced cost of fam trips, the few I have taken have been touring hotels, up to 4 a day and or seminars and little or no diving involved. If I have taken a trip that involved diving i paid for it, in full, out of my own pocket. Do you really think it's "free" to lead a trip, and who has time? I work and run my dive shop full time. I send instructors on my trip, and yes it costs them too. We don't add any extra money on our trips like a lot of shops do. If we get free spots we split the discount amongst our travelers. LOL, that may better than the tax write off comment. Yeah, I was merry until the plumbing backed up, and the AC shut off, and the camera was shoved in my face, and I could spit and hit the shore from the boat deck, , yeah whatever you give me $4400 and I will treat you like crap on my poorly maintenanced boat and we will see who is merrier.

 

[Mossman]

LOL! !!! That's the best comment so far, it's a write off.!!!!!LOL! I will let the tax man know. LOL!!! As for reduced cost of fam trips, the few I have taken have been touring hotels, up to 4 a day and or seminars and little or no diving involved. If I have taken a trip that involved diving i paid for it, in full, out of my own pocket. Do you really think it's "free" to lead a trip, and who has time? I work and run my dive shop full time. I send instructors on my trip, and yes it costs them too. We don't add any extra money on our trips like a lot of shops do. If we get free spots we split the discount amongst our travelers. LOL, that may better than the tax write off comment. Yeah, I was merry until the plumbing backed up, and the AC shut off, and the camera was shoved in my face, and I could spit and hit the shore from the boat deck, , yeah whatever you give me $4400 and I will treat you like crap on my poorly maintenanced boat and we will see who is merrier.

It's a completely valid comment. Your $4,400 is pretax. For me and most other divers, with no income from dive operations, it would cost over $6,000 in pretax dollars for the same trip. You, therefore, have less reason to gripe than someone who paid full fare.

I've been on two fam trips, one on the Tahiti Aggressor where I did 24 dives, plus another two in Moorea, and another fam trip in Palau where I did 11 dives and a dolphin experience. Sure, I had to visit a few hotels and dive ops, but that was fun and got us a couple free lunches.

That you give away your services by not taking advantage of the freebie when you lead groups, just demonstrates poor business acumen. Running a dive shop isn't volunteer work. If you must volunteer your time, do something better for the world like running a reef cleanup.

You admitted that the A/C was fixed right away. The plumbing didn't back up until the end of the trip. Complaining so much about the camera in your face is simply ridiculous as other posters have pointed out. And as for spitting and hitting the shore from the boat, you happened to choose a locale where the wall lies just offshore. If you wanted a remote bluewater experience, you should have gone somewhere else.

Other than these few gripes that you keep repeating, how else did they treat you like crap? What else did they do you, spit in your food? Wake you up at 3 a.m. for a drill? Put CO in your nitrox? Whatever.

So what boat will be honored with your presence in the Galapagos now that you canceled on the Aggressor (which are two of the best boats there)?

 

[Debraw]

Nope is was $2200 per person tax and all. I paid regular retail. Just like everyone else. The sewer backed up twice, once on day two and once on day five. The ice machine was broken also. The carpets were so dirty they made your feet black. Were told by the Captain himself how profitable the CA was and the in the next breath how they did not have the money to use sink the stink in the rinse bucket, they could only afford a couple capfuls of downey and did not change the rinse bucket at anytime on the trip. The towels were not cleaned between dives, just dried. The captain told us the comforters were washed only every two to three trips. We could have done more North Wall trips, the water was better on that side than the side we spent most of our time on. I suspect because at night we would hear the dingy travel back and forth to shore. No doubt one of the crew could take a trip back to their house. The snacks were cheese and crackers and if you didn't hurry one of the divemasters would walk by every few minutes and grab as many as he could carry. We only had baked goods once during the trip the rest of the time they were rice crispie treats and " yeah just go grab a handful oreos in that container over there". I can handle all that, I am just saying they should not advertise a luxury dive operator when they are clearly a 3 star hotel rating by any standard. In my opinion they did treat us like crap, it was in the water, out of the water, eat, take your picture, and nothing special. No laughter, no jokes, *****ing about how they didn't have any business lately, about how the Nekton was coming in to an area that didn't have any buisness anyway, three sales pitches throughout the trip, no really caring if we had a good time or not. It was something this crew had done a thousand times and they followed a format.

I have laughed through much of the commentary and presumptions you have made throughout this whole thread and what I perceive as value and what you ultimately perceive as value. Many people think the dive shop is out to rob the people of their money and then yet we see a great comment from you that I don't take advantage of the free spot as being a poor business practice. I see it as not taking something that isn't mine to begin with. From the start of this thread to now, finally, it has come to an end I have realized that I may never take another week long liveaboard vacation if this was supposed to be close to the top rung of the ladder. I value my diving dollars and my time a lot more than that these days.

 

[Mossman]

I have laughed through much of the commentary and presumptions you have made throughout this whole thread and what I perceive as value and what you ultimately perceive as value. Many people think the dive shop is out to rob the people of their money and then yet we see a great comment from you that I don't take advantage of the free spot as being a poor business practice. I see it as not taking something that isn't mine to begin with. From the start of this thread to now, finally, it has come to an end I have realized that I may never take another week long liveaboard vacation if this was supposed to be close to the top rung of the ladder. I value my diving dollars and my time a lot more than that these days.

I'll probably end up on the Nekton after all, though it bugs me that they're $50 more (after including nitrox) and don't even include beer and wine. But my first priority would be to get to Little Cayman and Cayman Brac and the CA just doesn't seem like a reliable way to get there. Plus they seem a bit too antsy about wet clothes inside the boat, from other comments I've read, and truthfully your comments don't help them, even though most of them I simply dismiss as whining.

At least on the Nekton, I'd expect things to be broken down and the service to be less classy. But you should have received a better experience on an Aggressor, IMO. On the T&C Aggressor, we had fresh baked bread every night, along with plenty of fresh baked desserts and snacks, but the cook obviously had a baking fetish. The food was very good and varied on that trip, plus nothing broke down, and the crew was superb. Unfortunately I definitely prefer the diving on the North Wall of Grand Cayman and I've heard the sister islands are even better. Too bad they can't switch boats.

Like I said before, week-long trips probably aren't for you. It's a long time to be cooped up in small quarters, so small problems can end up greatly magnified by the end of the trip. I've done three liveaboards now that were 10-11 days, and those can be a true test of a passenger's ability to adapt and compromise, but they can be incredible enjoyable adventures nonetheless. I know liveaboards are for me, so I'll appreciate people like you staying on land and leaving more spots available for my choosing.

On one of those longer boat trips, a 10-day Burma Banks trip, we suffered the dual indignities of a tsunami and running out of ice; on our 11-day Komodo trip, we had endless banging as the large crew worked tirelessly to hammer every little bit of rust off a 150' x 30' metal boat; and on the 10-day Cocos trip, we had really weak and moldy a/c the entire trip, plus the inability to flush t.p. down the head, and a few other negative complaints that probably were the equal of any of yours, except that we were there to dive and enjoy ourselves and so we did.

I'm curious about your comment that you don't think the free trip is yours, so why take it. The free trip is only offered for groups as an incentive for group leaders to organize said groups. Therefore, it is yours. Or it's as least yours as is the markup that you charge on the gear that you sell is yours. Or do you not markup dive gear? And what about airfills? How can you charge for something that's free, i.e. air? Are you claiming that the air is yours?

 

[Debraw]

Mossman says..."I know liveaboards are for me, so I'll appreciate people like you staying on land and leaving more spots available for my choosing"

Perfect. You get the last word. You have no idea what kind of person I am, but I now know what kind of person you are.

 

[Mossman]

Mossman says..."I know liveaboards are for me, so I'll appreciate people like you staying on land and leaving more spots available for my choosing"

Perfect. You get the last word. You have no idea what kind of person I am, but I now know what kind of person you are.

Actually I can be lots of different people, sometimes all at once.

(For me to actually get the last word, I have to have the last word)

 

[mjarens]

Wow! After reading the previous thread re: CA II, I felt I needed to give a report on my more recent experience from Sept 9 - 16, 2006. The Cayman Aggressor II is a beautiful boat. Granted, it was only my second liveaboard experience, but the week couldn't have been more fun and reasonably priced.

We were greeted and welcomed aboard by the friendly crew at the scheduled time, and invited to pick a station to unpack our dive gear and set up for the week. Everyone else was also shown to their cabins except me. The crew was finishing up installing a new A/C unit control in my cabin. So I stepped into the A/C cooled salon and visited with other guests for an hour or so until they were done.

Our week was the usual expected itinerary, and because of very flat seas we made the overnight crossing to Little Cayman the second night. Even in flat seas I was a bit seasick, but didn't use any meds so maybe that was my fault. The diving was superb all week. We did Cayman Brac too, but all of us divers really loved the numerous wall dive sites off Little Cayman. We could have spent the whole week there.

As for food, the regular chef was on vacation and the replacement chef did a pretty good fill in job. Was it gourmet? Not any where close. But the offerings were plentiful and tasty, including baked treats in between dives each morning. I didn't sign up for a dive trip expecting 4 or 5 star restaurant meals.

The crew were mostly very friendly and very knowlegeable about the dive sites. Yes, the captain has a rule about no wet swimwear in the lounge, but I would towel dry myself and my bathing suit so it wasn't dripping, and then head down to my cabin to change from my wet suit into dry clothes before lunch and dinner. No one ever barked at me about it. I used the head on the dive deck between dives (not an easy task for a gal in a full one piece swimsuit), but thats what I needed to do if I didn't want to dry all the way off before entering the salon. Hardly unreasonable.

Our trip had a newbie doing the video for the weeks DVD. Occassionally I felt that they were being corny while taping us. But if you ignore them they will go away. I did purchase the DVD, even though it had more cutsie deck shots and fewer underwater nature shots than I would have liked to see. But there was no pressure to purchase.

I will say that there was one crew member who was a bit too frank Friday night after we returned to the boat from our shore dinner, telling us how experienced he was compared to other crew members. Someone should explain to him that the customers aren't interested in his petty attitude. Maybe it was the wine he was drinking, or the cigar he was smoking! Loose lips and all. Maybe he shouldn't be working in a customer service position. All other crew members including the captain were friendly, curteous and helpful all week, and seemed genuienly appreciative of our business and of their jobs and coworkers.

All in all, we had no malfunctions of the A/C, plumbing, or engines, etc. We were all warned about tempermental boat plumbing, nothing I haven't heard about before when being out with friends on their 40 ft boat.

I felt we got a very good value for our money. Five dives a day, three meals a day, transportation to beautiful dive sites, a friendly crew. And although you can't buy good weather, we were blessed with it and calm seas all week. My fellow dive mates all seemed to enjoy the entire experience too.

I'd sign up again in a minute! In fact, I've already signed up for a Palau Aggressor trip for 2007. And I'm thinking of booking on the T&C Aggressor for 2007 too.

I hope my report helps bring an up to date point of view to this thread.

Regards,
mjarens